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Hi Forumites

Thank you for your valuable feedback about Mopani. Strangely enough, my wife and I have often said that Mopani is one of the undiscovered secrets of the Kruger National Park and, I am sure, there are many others who think the same way.

We recently put out this notice at the camp reception and I am sure you'll be interested in this development.



The 20+ year old White rhino bull "Ore" was recently translocated to the Mooiplaas section of the Kruger National Park to boost the species' population in this area, which is comparatively smaller than the one in the southern regions of the park. He was a Rhino bull that was housed at the Skukuza bomas and assisted us with research for some time.

If you see this majestic rhino bull, which can be recognised by his missing right ear and a v-shaped notch in the left ear, please write a note about your observation, including time and location, in the sightings book at the reception of the restcamp.

Your comments will help us to continue research on this specific Rhino!

Kind regards
KNP Spokesman

Thanks Guru

Thats cool - we are staying at Boulders in december so we'll keep our eyes peeled!!! The other unusual thing I often see around Mopani is Roan Antelope.

Come to think of it my parents have seen Rhino on the Shongololo! Is Ore collared - how will we ID him? (P.S. Is it ore as in afrikaans for "ears" or ore as in iron Ore?)

Cheers

Hi Everyone
Sorry, the post of the photograph came a bit late.
But this rhino is probably the most identifiable rhino in the KNP at the moment.
With its one ear and strangely shaped horn (it is like that from endless scraping against the cable fence at the boma) I believe that no one should have any problems identifying him.

Incidentally, I have just asked about how he lost one ear and was told we actually got him like that.
He originally comes from KZN and we think he lost his ear when he was very young, probably a scrap with a hyena.

It is indeed Ore as in the Afrikaans for "Ears".
Our Veterinary Wildlife Services (VWS) Department people have interesting ways of naming the animals that fall under their control.

I think it was last year sometime, a black rhino calf was found orphaned and injured by (stand to be corrected) a snare so the two KNP rangers Steven Whitfield (Tshokwane Section) and Richard Sowry (Kingfisherspruit Section) asked VWS to catch the calf and see what they could do to help him.

While in the boma, this little guy (I think it was a bull) was named "Stich" - after "Steven" and "Richard".
I seem to remember he was a very enthusiastic little chap and even bit one of the vet's fingers off.

By the way, he fully recovered after his ordeal and was returned to the veld, his right and proper place.

Kind regards
KNP Spokesman

Ore before release...

Now you all know what to look out for.

I have found the Mopani area quite good for game viewing.
Plenty of buffalo on the Shongololo Loop and at Mooiplaas, lots of elephant on the Tropic of Capricorn loop roads.
Also seen eland at the Uitspan waterhole and caracal on the night drive.
Never seen the large cats in this area though.

Birdlife is also plentiful with numerous waterbirds at Nshawu dam and good open country for sighting raptors.

My father works for the company that helped develop and build Mopanie.

So we decided to go there for a 3 night stay, and had bungalows 100 and 101 overlooking the dam.

Need I say I am going there again in Dec.

Wonderful camp.

Hi BH

Tsendze is basically Mopani's camping area - it is a satellite of Mopani and is about 8-9 km from Mopani.

Have a look at the Tsendze thread under camps and roads, there are a few pics of mine of the camp there.

Hi,
We love this camp. It is beautiful and quiet. The view from the deck over the dam is more than great and at night you can go to sleep hearing the sounds of the hippos.
The restaurant is one of our favourites in the park.
The in-camp trail is good, too, and there are always a lot of birds around.
Elephant sightings are guaranteed.
The vegetation is indeed a bit boring and around Mopani, it can happen that sightings are rare, but due to the fact that the camp and its atmosphere is so pleasant, we stay there each time we go to KNP.
The units are great and we love the fact that this camp is not crowded.
We made a night drive just once, some years ago (in 2003), but it was a productive one, including hippos grazing through the bush and a lion right next to the road, not far away from the camp.

We saw Or (sp) the rhino with one ear on the S136 near the Boulders turnoff, but he is not a very friendly rhino
You must do the river loops, we met Alexander on one of these
Also consider a night at Shipandani Hide

We had a absolutely amazing evening drive ending at 8.
We saw lion, serval, wild cat, elephant, rhino to mention a few, our guide was Michael and he was great i can recommend the evening drive to anyone .

Leaving in 6 weeks!!!!

Mopani was the FIRST rest camp we booked for this September......... last time we stayed there we had the most wonderful bungalow with a verandha overlooking the dam.

The most relaxing day was sitting on the verandha watching the ellies all day in and out of the water, photographing the birds that visited our railing......... we had a resident Monitor lizard that poked his head out and hissed at us every time we went up the path......... absolutely delightful.

In the afternoon we went for a walk with a guide and on the way back had to scout around the 80 or so elephants that were vacating the water..... very exciting and my nearest encounter on foot, so close my SO thought that the motionless elephant that blended in with the trees was in fact a tree ........until it moved it's tail!!!

We are booked in for a sunset drive this time and I am hoping that we will see a lot more, maybe we will further our education if we get Michael!!! Fingers crossed!!!

We always start our holiday up North and then work our way down. Mopani is absolutely stunning!! One of my all time favourites!!!

A holiday in the park is not a holiday if we haven't stayed over at Mopani!!
We hit gold over our last visit in Dec of '07. We stayed in one of the guest houses on the river bank. The view was mind blowing... hippo's playing in the distance... magnificent sunsets... those early mornings sitting on the 'stoep' with coffee and a rusk...

Amazing!!

We spent 2 nights at Mopani beginning of this month, had Chalet # 51, nice view of the dam and we loved the thick bushes surrounding the units.

Lots of Hippos grunting, Fish Eagles and other water birds calling.
On the first night we even had Large Spotted Genet come visiting.

On one of our drives we took the S143 Tropic of Capricorn Loop and apart from lots of Ellies, we also saw a pride of 8 Lions, quite a few Tsessebe, Kori Bustards, in fact, plenty of interesting sightings to keep us amused for many hours.
But, the grass was really long and thick!
There were also regular sightings of Wild Dogs being seen in the Nkokodzi Water hole area near the S 144 junction, but we never did get to see them.
We really enjoyed the Mopani area.

Loads of wonderfull birdlife in the camp itself. Sat on the stoep and took a foto of this hornbill with no! zoom!

This camp surely made a deep impresion on me and I will never forget the vissit!

Did the Shongololo Loop & then the Tropic of Capricorn loop, Saw game as follows Buffalo herd with day old calfs, Elephant(A lot), Cheetah, lot's of general game, Tsessebe, Eland, Mountain Reedbuck, Roan, Lion, on the way back, Hlanganini & a lot more.